A 33-year-old man from Cebu was stranded at sea for three days after his house was swept away by floodwaters caused by Typhoon Tino (international name: Kalmaegi).
According to reports, Christian Abanto of Sitio Buswang, Barangay Cantood in Balamban, Cebu, drifted in the ocean for three days and two nights when the tropical cyclone struck the Visayas region earlier this week.
Strong floodwaters carried away his house, leaving him adrift at sea.
Abanto survived by clinging to a banana truck to stay afloat.
He was eventually rescued by a passenger pump boat in San Remigio and received medical attention from the Rural Health Unit San Remigio Medical Team. He is currently in stable condition.
Authorities are reportedly trying to contact his family or anyone who knows him in Balamban.
The incident was also shared on a Reddit community, where it earned 47 upvotes.
Man from Balamban, Cebu survives at sea for 3 days before being rescued off the coast of San Remigio by a passenger pumpboat.
byu/ubejam inPhilippines
The Reddit user who shared the post noted that Abanto was rescued “around at least 80 kilometers” from his town.
“Grabe ang layo ng inabot niya, thank God nakaligtas siya, that must have been so scary,” another Redditor wrote.
Cebu province was among the hardest hit by “Tino,” which brought widespread flooding, landslides and severe soil erosion.
The typhoon also damaged infrastructures like houses and establishments and caused prolonged power outages.
“Tino” is currently the deadliest tropical cyclone in the Philippines this year, with nearly 200 reported fatalities.
READ: Typhoon Kalmaegi, formerly ‘Tino,’ brings rain and destruction to Vietnam as death toll nears 200 in Philippines | ‘Powerful wake-up call’: Foreign vlogger documents ‘Tino’ aftermath in El Nido
